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The Case Of A Drowning Man By Anas Abdullahi
When in 1999 Vice President Atiku Abubakar was called to serve as the number two citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing the northern region at national level, he automatically assumed a leadership role in the country in general and the north in particular. Therefore, under normal circumstance everybody will think that His Excellency’s main concern is to see how he could touch the life’s of many Nigerians particularly members of his constituency by improving their living standard. This is very important because the region (North) is the least developed part of the country. In other words the Vice President should ordinarily have the interest of his people at heart and to bring pressure to bear on the political system so that extra resources could be budgeted with the sole objective of addressing the fundamental problems of the North. Looking at it from another perspective such action will also boast the political credibility of His Excellency, thereby incorporating this large population into the mainstream of the nation’s body polity. In a nutshell it is generally believed that since the Vice President is the highest political office holder from the north he will under normal circumstance identify with the cause of the people of his constituency by protecting and projecting their interest.
Empirical evidence suggest that the Northern region is grossly underdeveloped, but even in the North Adamawa State, the Vice President’s state of origin is among the least developed states, the Boni Haruna led government in the state is very unpopular this was apparent in the 2003 election were the Governor lost out in the general election, but it was rigged in by the ruling party inspite of the peoples resistance. This is a state which lack basic infrastructure such as good roads, potable water etc. the state also have a very low economic activities coupled with lack of industries. However recently the Vice President in his wisdom decided to initiate the opening of American capitalist type university in the state. This to some is development a project which only a tiny minority bourgeoisie class will benefit while marginalizing the majority, since 90 percent of the people in the state spend more than 85 percent of their income on food and shelter such population can only admire the buildings of the institution.
Education is the bedrock of development no society will develop without educating its citizen and one of the yardstick to measure the level of education in a state or region is through students enrolments into institutions of learning, also in this regard the Vice President constituency is the most backward, it was shocking when Prof. Idris revealed that “in 2005 from 14 Northern States added up to (6.8%) to the total (U.M.E successful candidates) which is still less than that of Anambra state alone (7.18%) the same year” (weekly trust, Newspaper Dec.31 2005) This clearly shows how bad thing are in the north and this certainly have some danger signals for the north unless something is done soon. Also another shocking revelation from Prof. Idris still on the issue of child education in the region as he lament that “we have now in the 21st century over 17 million 4 – 12 years old children in the streets begging under the pretence of seeking Islamic education” (op-cit) certainly this shocking revelation is a big challenge to the government, 17 million children being denied access to the basics of life. All this is happening in Vice President’s constituency. No part of Nigeria you go and witness children begging except the north.
Kano state is the commercial centre of the North, once Kano goes haywire, it presuppose that economic activities in the north will have to crumble down systematically. But we see things going pretty bad in the state. The reason for this may be twofold. One, the energy crisis, most of the industries in the state are closing down because they can’t afford to continue production on generators this will definitely reduce their profit margin, yes, I know their is energy crisis in the country generally but that’s notwithstanding if you go to Lagos and other South Western States the situation is not as bad as that of Kano State. This is certainly mitigating development in the North the second reason is the issue of custom harassment in the major markets in the state and at the state high ways, traders who come to buy goods from Kano to other states like Adamawa, Gombe, Zaria, Sokoto etc are being harassed and goods taken away. All this are helping in the already declining economic activities in the region and the country in general.
It was indeed a great embarrassment when before our eyes one of Sarduna’s legacy (The Bank of the North) was forced to merge thereby changing its identity, focus and area of interest. Sarduna’s dream was to build a strong and virile financial institution that will facilitate the development of Agriculture, trade and commerce in the north but unfortunately it is dead. All this are testimonies to the Vice President’s performance as the number two citizen in the country for seven years now.
Mr. President recently initiated a cassava project which is targeted towards boasting cassava production since every flour company is expected to put certain percentage of cassava flour in their final products this include bakeries in addition to the quantum amount of cassava that will be exported to China. As a result, today from Lokoja to Ibadan you see cassava farms all over. Also in his bid to help agriculture the cocoa farmers association was formed which is mainly base in the West and have been having contact and consultation with the presidency.
It is important to note here that farming is the major occupation in the North, but this man old occupation have suffered a lot beginning with inadequate government assistance, no new technologies to boast production and on the other hand no preservation techniques for farm produce. This is one area were our political leaders in the North under the leadership of Vice President Atiku Abubakar ought to have made a concerted effort regardless of party affiliation to see how they could assist boast agricultural production.
Corollary to this is the issue of the Fulani nomads who play a significant role in our lives by providing us with the protein requirement needed such as fresh milk, meat, fertilizer etc. But this people are completely neglected, these Fulani nomads are mostly in and around North East geo-political zone and Adamawa State have the highest number of this nomad and that happens to be the state of the Vice President. Although some years back efforts were made to introduce nomadic education by Prof. Jibril Aminu, certainly this is a step in the right direction. But we are yet to see any significant programme to assist this people so as to improve upon their traditional ways of doing things.
Aside from representing the North the Vice President being a Muslim should also represent the Muslims in this country, this brings us to the latest move by some Muslims to start Islamic finance institution (Jaiz International) which have since been in existence in places like United Kingdom. This will give adequate opportunity for the large Muslim Community to fully partake in modern finance system because the dominate banking industry in the country now is mainly based on usury which is categorically prohibited in Islam, therefore, making the modern banking industry unattractive to many. This naturally will require the support of the political leadership since a large number of the populations in this country are Muslim.
Similarly, India is not a Muslim country, not up to 15 percent of the population are Muslim in India but they spend substantial amount of their resources in preparation and handling Hajj operations for the benefit of their Muslim citizens. Talkless of Nigeria with a significant number of Muslim but yet with very minimal government assistance infact Hajj operations in Nigeria has been a pathetic story with pilgrims spending days in the airport on tarmac just to be told they can make the journey while others will come back without their luggage’s.
To sum it all, the North as it is today is grossly underdeveloped. Poverty, illiteracy, poor healthcare, malnutrition, infant mortality, polio, street beggars, are all very visible in the North. All the issues highlighted above are very essential for the development of the North once such setback are addressed it will gradually have a multiplier effect on the entire economy of the North and the country in general. But who will do this, certainly the move should come up from the political leadership who were elected and support by the people to represent their interest. With due respect to His Excellency Vice President Atiku Abubakar, is obviously in best position to do these by organizing a Forum where all stakeholders will come together and put pressure on the political system in order to get something relevant done for the zone. Also other non-governmental organizations, foundations and lobby groups can strategically be financed in order to lobby for certain programmes and policies that will address some of the issues. Moreover, attending to this problem even without solving them entirely will give the Vice President some credibility in the eyes of the people. But it is also said “where there is will, there is always a way” so it seems that the will is not there. |